PARTE PRIMERA

Instead of =Cuento=, later editions read =Leyendas=.

The introductory quotation is taken from the "Don Quijote," Part I, chap. 45. The words were addressed by Don Quijote to members of the rural police who were arresting him for depredations committed on the highway. The full sentence in Ormsby's translation reads: "Who was he that did not know that knights-errant are independent of all jurisdictions, that their law is their sword, their charter their prowess, and their edicts their will?" This Spanish declaration of independence was frequently used as a slogan by the Romanticists. Espronceda is here making the quotation apply more particularly to his lawless hero.

=1. Era más de media noche=: the poet begins with a characteristic Romantic landscape, gloomy, medieval, fantastic, uncanny. He is trying to create a mood of horror. He follows the Horatian precept of beginning the plot in the middle (_in medias res_). The situation here introduced is not resumed until Part Four is reached. Parts Two and Three supply the events leading up to the duel. The Duque de Rivas's "Candil" begins in similar fashion:

Más ha de quinientos años En una torcida calle, Que de Sevilla en el centro Da paso a otras principales; Cerca de la media noche, Cuando la ciudad más grande Es de un grande cementerio En silencio y paz imagen; De dos desnudas espadas Que trababan un combate Turbó el repentino encuentro Las tinieblas impalpables. El crujir de los aceros Sonó por breves instantes Lanzando azules centellas, Meteoro de desastres. Y al gemido _¡Dios me valga! ¡Muerto soy!_ y al golpe grave De un cuerpo que a tierra vino El silencio y paz renacen, etc.

This was first published in "El Liceo," 1838. The Duque de Rivas may have been influenced by our text, but such introductions were a Romantic commonplace. See M. Fernández y González, "Crónicas romanescas de España. Don Miguel de Mañara, memorias del tiempo de Carlos V," Paris, 1868. The story begins "Era la media noche"; and, later, "Hacía mucho tiempo que Sevilla estaba entregada al sueño y al silencio." Espronceda is here following his sources closely.

=2. antiguas historias=: not a mere rhetorical statement. These old stories actually existed. See the study of sources in the Introduction.

=4. lóbrego=: I follow the reading of the 1840 edition. Later editions changed to =lóbrega=, making the adjective agree with =tierra= instead of =silencio=. Either reading makes good sense, but in cases of doubt I follow the Editio Princeps.

=11. fantasmas=: this noun is usually masculine, but is often feminine in popular speech. The distinction between the masculine and feminine meanings given in most dictionaries does not apply in Espronceda. He uses both genders indifferently.

=19. sábados=: Saturday was the usual day when, according to popular belief, witches attended their yearly =aquelarre= or sabbath. The favorite meeting-place for Spanish witches was said to be the plain around Barahona (Soria).

=27. gótico=: admiration for the Gothic was a characteristic of Romanticism.

=37. Salamanca=: the famous university city of Spain. Its founding antedates the Carthaginians and the Romans. The university of Palencia was transferred to Salamanca by Fernando III in 1239. Neither the university nor the city retains much of its ancient importance. See Gustave Reynier, "La Vie universitaire dans l'ancienne Espagne," Paris, 1902.

=38. armas y letras=: these words summarize the Renaissance ideal of culture. The perfect gentleman must combine literature and arms. Letters were not considered to be apart from active life. Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and many others of Spain's great writers of the classic period exemplify this ideal.

=53. embozado=: to avoid breathing the cool mountain air of his country, a Spaniard frequently draws the corner of his cape over his face, concealing it. He is then =embozado=, 'muffled.' When a woman is heavily veiled she is =tapada=. This national custom has been effectively used by Spanish poets, novelists, and dramatists. It offered a plausible excuse for the concealment or confusion of identity.

=64. calle=: this word is the object of =atraviesa=, l. 72.

=65. la calle del Ataúd=: this dismal name does not seem to be of Espronceda's own invention. It is found in José Gutiérrez de la Vega's "Don Miguel de Mañara," 1851. Espronceda probably used some earlier edition of the prose romance of Don Miguel de Mañara.

=96. que=: a relative adverb used with the force of a genitive Translate 'whose.'

=100. Segundo Don Juan Tenorio=: see the Introduction.